My name's Guartrainer and I'm from the U.K. I've lurked on these excellent forums for quite a while, so I thought I'd say hi and show you guys and gals what I've been up to recently...

I noticed that there have been some excellent statues and mini-busts of star wars characters that have been produced lately; that got me thinking for alternate image sources for cards. I was looking to do something for a card that I wanted to produce for a custom Blue Snaggletooth figure that I'm sourcing, and I would love to get your reaction and advice on possible improvements.

Anyway, This is my first attempt. Please be kind and let me know what you think!Cheers,GT.

...and also presenting the Palitoy 20b cardback image that I'm going to be using. I love the UK Death Star Playset advert (got one in a cupboard somewhere...)!!! Note that I've left the figure reference advert (8 new figures) image as a red snaggletooth on the back.

I dunno if I should change it to a blue. What do you guys think. Authentic red or a one-off blue?

Overall these cards look great. I would suggest trying to blend the colors of the Blue Snaggletooth and the background a bit more. He looks too bright compared to the rest of the image. Otherwise a very cool idea. The diorama looks fantastic, and I would suggest sticking with a Red Snaggletooth. By the way, out of curiousity, do you have a Blue Snaggletooth figure you are going to put on the card?

Yeah. Totally get the blending suggestion. Believe it or not the mini-bust image is already toned way down (added shadow to the right half of the image in an attempt to mimic the lighting in the background image) as the Cantina reference image that I'm using for the background fits the composition but has a weird colour palette and a low resolution.

I think I could have gone further though. I'll be braver and have a bash, and if it's any good I'll stick up the results for you to have a squint at.

I already have a Blue Snag which I was lucky enough to pick up many years ago. He's in great condition. My main figure collection is free standing in two huge display cases, but I did pick up some doubles so I could experiment with recarding the first 12 figures (I'm really happy with the results I got). I quite like the Blue Snag that I have as a free-stander (as I have a cantina "diorama" and he fits in really well with my vinyl cape jawa (faked to the max) and the three legged 1977 R2D2 I have displayed from the droid factory playset - a group of oddities figure-wise which seems to fit really well together).

My plan was to go the Greedo / redsnag repaint route as I have no wish to pay the insane amounts that Blue Snags seem to go for on Evilbay... as a carded-display figure I think it could work out quite well, be my first attempt at a recipe figure and save me a ton of money! That's the thinking anyway...

Yet again Nice work, they kind of have a Kubrick sort of feel to them, If you know what I mean, more Arty than photographic.

My only comment would be on the Greedo card, try to center him a little more and raise him up towards the top of the card a little.He looks to be off centre to me, just my opinion but might improve the overall look.

Also I don't know if you are wanting these to be politically correct or not but Palitoy didn't use the Ref number in the top left corner.

Thanks for your feedback tworiverz. Much appreciated. I think you're right about Greedo. He's slightly off centre an the shadowing isn't helping him.

Also correct about the ref numbers on Palitoy. I have these cards set up as layers in Photoshop (from some restored cards that I scanned and fixed and some gfx resources that I've collected along the way). May aim was to have a PSD file that I could use to print whatever I liked, from Meccano to Lil'Ledy. Somehow the Kenner ref-number layer must have been moved up and I didn't spot them. A good job that I'm waiting for feedback before hitting the printer, eh?!

I know what you mean about the Kubrick'y feel. I think these cards seem more posed than regular vintage. I'm trying my best to hide the fact that they are composited, but I think it might actually be lending it something...

Ak! You got me! WM is indeed wearing a cast-off greedo jacket (the sneaky thing). I needed some clothing with a high collar to hide some of his more "interesting" neck issues that he developed whilst mid-photoshop...

I'd already decided that I was going to move onto droids after the cantina patrons, so I'm happy to present my take on '3P0.

Everyone: Please feel free to chip in with criteque and suggestions. It all helps to make my cards better!

Obviously this pic was taken just before he wandered into that canyon where the Jawas wait in ambush..."You wait for three lunar-months and then three droids come along at once!" - Translation: "Utinni!"